Device



A. E. CU'LLEY.

LOADING DEVICE.

' APPLICATKON FILED APR. 29. 1919.

Patented May 31,1921.

A/fr'ed Eaw/n Culley,

A. E. CULLEY.

LOADING DEVICE.

APPLICATIUN FILED APR- 29 1919. 1,379,746. Patented May 31, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- A/fred I Edw/h Cu l/e M A. E. CULLEY.

LOADiNG DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, 1919.

Eatemefl May 3L 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A. E. CULLEY.

LOADQNG DEVICE.

APPLICAHON min APR.Z9, I919.

5 $HEETSSHEET 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE;

ALFRED EDWIN CULLEY, 0F STAIPENHILL, BURTON-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND,

LOADING DEVICE.

Application filed April 29,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED EDWIN CUL- LEY, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, and residing in Stapenhill, Burton-on-Trent, England,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Loading Devices, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for raising casks, hogsheads, balesand the like, and is specially applicable to apparatus for loadingdrays, trucks and the like.

The invention as applied to an apparatus for raising casks isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which 1- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a portable form of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding plan, and

Fig. 3 is an end elevation viewed from the upper end of the incline.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the planes of pro ection are for the sake of clearness,respectively, parallel with, and normal to the track.

F ig. 4 is a transverse section on the line IV, IV, of Fig. 1, the partsbehind the plane of section being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view to a larger scale of a portion of Fig. 3showing the means for adjusting the driving chains.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 and shows a modification, and

Figs. 7 and 8 are, respectively, a side elevation and an end elevationand illustrate a modification suitable for hand operation when the liftis short, as in stacking hogsheads in double tier.

Referring in the first instance to Figs. 1 to 4:-1 is the .track alongwhich the casks 2 are rolled, say by gravity, to the lower end of aninclined track 3 leading up to a loading platform 4; the track mayconsist of a pair of metal rails laid parallel and at a distance apartsuitable for the rolling thereon of the smallest size of cask with whichthe apparatus has to deal. The inclined track 3 is carried from thelower transverse members of a framed structure 5, the main and crossbracing members lof which are disposed in any convenient manner adaptedto rigidly support the track and gear to be described, which framedstructure is, in the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, madeportable by being mounted on a pair of road wheels 6.

8, 8 are the pair' of endless driving chains. Each chain is mounted onfour Specification of Letters Patent.

1919. Serial No. 293,525.

sprocket wheels 9, 10, 11 and 12. These wheels are mounted on spindlesthe axes of which are approximately normal to the plane of the inclinedtrack so that the driving chains move in planes approximately parallelwith the plane of the track. The wheels 11 and 12 may be mounted onfixed spindles supported from the brackets 18; the wheels 10 are mountedon spindles can ried in brackets 14 (Fig. 1) transversely movable andfitted with chain-tightening screws 15 (Fig. 5) and their spindles areprolonged to carry rotatable bollards 16; the wheels 9 are keyed onspindles 17 journaled in the brackets 18, and having keyed to theirupper ends bevel wheels 19 gearing with pinions 20 keyed on thetransverse shaft 21 carried in the bearing 22. The shaft 21 is driven bya belt and pulleys 23 from a counter-shaft 24 which in turn is driven bythe belt 25 connecting the pulley 26 to the pulley 27 on the shaft of asuitable motor 28, which. in the example illustrated is anelectro-motor. The spindles 17 carry the rotatable bollards 29.

The hauling chains 30, 30 have one pair of ends fixed to the loadingplatform at the points 31, 31 and the other pair of ends 32, 32 areattached by any suitable means such as swivels to the respective drivingchains.

The ends of the hauling chains attached to the driving chains thustraverse the path of the driving chains, moving together up with theadjacent sides and around the respective sprocket wheel 9 and 10 wherethey move apart and then move back with the remote sides of the drivingchains; then around the respective sprocket wheels 11 and 12 where theyapproach and again pass up with the adjacent sides, completing the cycleof movement which is continuously repeated.

Assuming the attached ends of the hauling chains to be passing aroundbetween the respective sprocket wheels 11 and 12, and that each chain islong enough to permit the parts extending from the fixed points 31, 31'to points below the respective sprocket wheels 11, to lie on a suitablesmooth fiooring 33 just under and extending laterally on each side ofthe track, and that the cask 2 is in position at the foot of theincline, the upper ends of the hauling chains 30, 30', will then hangapproximately as shown in the dotted lines a Fig. 1; the steepness ofthe catenary curve assumed by the respecform 4.

tive chains may be increased by making the links at these ends of thechain heavier than those of the other portions of the chains, so thatthe upper part of the depending portion assumes an almost verticalposition. as the attached ends approach the sprocket wheels 12 thehauling chains will be caused to encircle the barrel; after they passaround the sprocket wheels 12 the attached ends travel along with theinsides of the driving chains and, when they reach the position shown infull lines at 7) Fig. 1, will begin to haul the barrel up the incline.The attached ends of the chain when hauling move at approximately twicethe speed of the barrel so that when the said ends reach the sprocketwheels 9, the barrel will have been pulled up the incline to theposition indicated in Fig. 1. The ends now move around the respectivesprocket wheels 9 and in so doing they draw the hauling chains aroundthe respective bollards 29; when the ends pass around the sprocketwheels 10 they draw the hauling chains around'the respective bollards 16also, and as the ends move back along with the remote sides of thedriving chains they continue to haul the barrel up till theyreach theposition shown at (Z by double dotted chain lines; in this position thebarrel has just reached the loading plat- Immediately afterward thehauling chains fall from the bollards 29 (see Fig. 3) and then from thebollards 16, and they make their return journey, as shown at c in trebledotted chain lines, the portion of the hauling chains lying on theflooring being guided inwardly, so as to lie alongside and parallel withthe track, by suitable curved surfaces 84 which form extensions of theflooring 33; further movement brings the ends of the hauling chainsaround the sprockets 11 where they are in position ready to engage withthe next barrel which in the meantime has moved, say by gravity, intoposition at the foot of the incline.

The links of the driving chains 8, 8' are so. constructed thattheyresist the tendency of the chains to sag between the sprocket wheels,this may be accomplished by extending the overlapping parts of the linksin a longitudinal direction.

The loading platform tis made part of the portable structure and may bearranged to rest on, say, an elevated platform on to which the caskshaveto be raised in order to load'railway-wagons or drays, or theplatform may rest on the deck of .said wagon or dray or ona warehouseintake floor or any other elevated position into which the casks have tobe raised. 7

The structure 5 would be closed-in by walls 35,1and flooring 33, whichparts are, for the sake of clearness, omitted from Figs. 1 and 2. Therear of the portable structure may be provided with guide wheels, andwhen the motor 28 is, say, an oil or petrol engine it may be geared tothe road wheels and be used to propel the portable structure.

In some cases it may not be desirable to make the arrangement portableas described in such cases the structure, and the arrangement of theseveral parts may be modified as shown in Fig. 6 which shows a fixedapparatus which, in the main, is similar in construction and function tothe arrangement described, and in which the similar parts are similarlyfigured.

The motor 28 may in this case be fixed on a convenient groundfoundation, and the members of the structure 5 may also be carried fromthe ground, the main part of the gear being carried from brackets boltedto the steel joists 36; the inclined track being permanently fixed at asuitable slope from the lower to the higher level, and being sup portedby the steel joist 37.

The counter-shaft 24 is carried from the rear end. of the structure, andthe arrangement of the driving chains, hauling chains, bollards, guidesurfaces, and sprocket wheels, and the mode of driving the latter may,in the fixed arrangement, be similar to that described in reference toFigs. 1 to cl.

Referring now to Figs. 7 and 8 which show a hand-operated applianceadapted for use when casks have to be stored in two tiers, alowcr tierof casks 2 and an upper tier of casks 2". The portable main f'amc onwhich the apparatus is mounted comprises two triangular side framescomposed of a base member 38, carrying wheels 39, a vertical member 40and an inclined member 41; these are braced together by the transversemembers 42, 4-3, 4 1 and 45.

The two endless chains 8" and 8" are each mounted on four sprocketwheels 9 10 11" and 12 and 9 10', 11", and 12" which are rotatablymounted on the main frame. The sprocket wheels 9 drive the chains and.are driven by hand-operated gear as follows i The operating handle 46turns a shaft 4:7 rotatably mounted on the main frame, and a pinion 48keyed on the two shaft gears with a wheel 49 keyed on the shaft 50rotatably mounted on the'main frame. On the shaft 50 is keyed a bevelpinion 51 which gears with the bevel wheel 52 keyed on the spindle 53which drives the right hand sprocket wheel 9" (Fig. 8). A wheel 55 keyedon the spindle 58 gears with a wheel 56 keyed on the spindle 5 1 whichdrives the left hand sprocket wheel 10 The action of the apparatus is asfollows 2- The casks are rolled forward between the sides of the mainframe, alternate casks, 2 for the lower tier, roll straight through andare scotched in position, and the alternate casks 2 are embraced by thehauling chains 30 and 30 and are raised by the operation of the gearuntil they roll over the transverse member and down the bridge piece 57into position over the two end casks of the lower tier; the cask 2"shown in Fig. 7 on the ground between the side frames, is lifted in thismanner into the position 2". I

The arrangement is continuous and automatic and capable of dealing insuccession without adjustment, with different sizes of casks; the powerneeded to drive it is comparatively small and the apparatus can be usedwith safety by unskilled labor.

The construction may be modified to suit different articles to be dealtwith, and although especially applicable for dealing with casks (theends of which by virtue of the shape of the casks are separated when thecentral parts are in contact) it may be employed with suitablemodifications to deal with rolls or bales of goods.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is 1. In apparatus for raising casks and the like, incombination; a main frame, a pair of endless driving chains carried onsprocket wheels mounted on the frame and having parallel adjacentportions; means for driving the endless chains; a pair of haulingchains, one end of each of which is fixed to the frame and the otherends of which are attached to corresponding links of the respectivedriving chains.

2. In combination with the elements as claimed in claim 1, a raisedinclined track, carried by the main frame, up which track the casks aredrawn by the hauling chains; substantially as described.

3. ln apparatus for raising casks and the like, in combination :-aportable main frame, an adjustable inclined track carried by the mainframe; a pair of endless driving chains carried on sprocket wheelsmounted on the frame having two adjacent sides of the endless chainapproximately parallel with the said track; means for driving theendless chains; a pair of hauling chains, one end of each of which isfixed to the frame at the higher level to which the cask is to be raisedand the other ends of which are attached to corresponding links of therespective driving chains.

4:. In combination with the elements as claimed in claim 1, an inclinedtrack carried by the main frame, up which track the casks are drawn bythe hauling chains; flooring; and upwardly curved extensions of theflooring adapted to guide the trailing portions of the hauling chains;substantially as described.

5. In combination with the elements of claim 1 bollards co-axiallymounted on the spindles of the sprocket wheels around which the movableends of the hauling chains pass from the inner portions of the loci ofthe links of the endless chains to the outer portions thereof, andaround which bollards the said hauling chains engage and pass until theyare disengaged from the cask; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED EDWIN CULLEY.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH E. Hrns'r, MARGUERITA JoNEs.

